Monday Favorites: Gadgets

Hello and happy Monday to all my dear readers! I could have posted favorite recipes again today BUT I'm trying to get away from the food for a bit SO! Instead, gear up to check out some of my favorite gadgets! Several may be going on my wish list. :)

Rubber Duck (waterproof duck plays music in your shower wirelessly!)

Hollow Spy Coins

The Instagram Camera (Not available for purchase yet but on its way!)

USB Typewriter! (If I ever get an iPad, I so want one of these!)

USB Skeleton Keys (Only the cutest USBs ever!)

And now, it's time for a song! :)

Well I'm off to eat lunch. Enjoy your day and keep those smiles on! Until next time!

"I am the first to admit my iPad is the coolest thing in the world, but when we can be in a room together and really connect, or leave the gadgets home and go for a hike, then I'm happy." ~ Michael Chiklis


"This is the other thing: we make the cost of raising kids higher than it has to be just because we feel they need all this stuff, like gadgets, certain schools, and activities that are nice but aren't really necessary." ~ Patricia Heaton


"What is so brilliant about the gadgets is their simplicity." ~ Desmond Llewelyn

Thursday Wishlist: Wanderlust

Yup, I have it again. The urge to go travel someplace and see things! This is partly due to the upcoming adventures to Michigan and Chicago in the next few weeks. Friends, laughs, sweet things, backseat snuggles, oh I can't wait! 


Right now though, I'm dreaming of international travel. Calgon take me away!

How I'd love to throw some things in my suitcase and just go! *Sigh* I guess I'll have to become a really famous author before that ever happens. Oh well. A girl can dream right?


Here's your song!

Enjoy your day and keep those smiles on! 


"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything." ~ Charles Kuralt


"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." ~ Lao Tzu



"To travel is to live." ~ Hans Christian Andersen

Monday Favorites: Cooking

Hello my lovely readers! It's another Monday and today began nice and cool outside! Bird singing, a gorgeous sunrise and a little effort to make Little Bird smile. Ah the challenge. :)


Today's post is about cooking! Not recipes but just the activity in general. I love to cook. It's one of my favorite things to do. :) It's creative. It's delicious. It can be daring and dangerous. It's a challenge! Can you take a counter-full of ingredients and turn it into something delicious? Hmmm. ;) I love it! foodgawker.com is one of my all time favorite sites to find deliciousness! Now some of it is a little odd and it has some foreign stuff that I'm not brave enough to try but if you go here, you're mouth starts watering, even if you've just eaten! It's awesome! 


So, what have you made lately? :)

Keep those smiles on! Until next time!


"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude." ~ Julia Child



"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." ~ Harriet Van Horne



"I feel a recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation." ~ Madam Benoit

Feminine Friday: Femininity

Happy Friday my lovely lady readers! The other day, I found this picture on Pinterest (a terrible sucking black hole ;) ) and it gave me the inspiration for this post! 

Can I get an amen? I mean seriously! I love this because it's so true! Our world today says "Oh you women! Be tough! Be independent! Be successful! BE MEN!!!" But that's not how God made us! He made us to be tender, beautiful, gentle, soft, caring and supportive. And if that's how He made us, why do we not embrace it?! Personally, I like being girly and I always will! I love dresses and pink and sparkly things and no one can tell me that I shouldn't! So don't be afraid to be feminine, my lovely reader! Ignore what the world may tell you about being a stay-at-home mom or baking your own bread or wearing skirts and dresses all the time or respecting your husband's authority! They say we need to be different by being the same but I say we truly be different! Be girly! 


Okay, I'll get off my soapbox. Here's your song. :)

Enjoy your day and keep those smiles on! Until next time!

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." ~ 1 Peter 3:3-4

Wishlist: Weather

Hello my lovely readers! I hope you all enjoyed your holiday yesterday! Mine was filled with smiles, good food, air conditioning and general merriment. :) Our only lament was that we had a fire ban so no fireworks. :( And that is my wishlist item today. 


Today, I want RAIN!!!!!

Now don't get me wrong. I do love sunshine. But this weather lately is intolerably hot and dry! When I leave for work at 6:30 in the morning, it isn't cool and refreshing. No, it's already humid and hard to breathe. :P And having some rain would so help that! Cooler weather, raindrops pounding against the window, puddles to jump in after the storms, gray clouds in the sky, the smell of the coming storm. *sigh* I miss it. 


Here's your song!

Enjoy your day dear reader and no matter the weather, keep those smiles on! Until next time!

"What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance." ~ Jane Austen


"Slowly at last the heavy clouds, charged with the welcome water, roll up from seaward; the air grows sultry and still; the creatures of the grove and jungle keep their coverts, as if expectant, like the surface of the soil; there is a hush over all things, as though nature herself were faint; till presently the lightning flashes and the thunder rattles, and down, as if really from heaven and from the hand of God, comes the thick and fresh rain. Then there rises from the ground a cool and penetrating aroma, the scent of the dry soil saturated..." ~ Daily Telegraph


"I am sure it is a great mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains.  One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness." ~ Adeline Knapp

My Wonderful Life

Hello my dear readers and happy Tuesday! Soooo much has been happening lately so I thought I would give you an update and ramble on to you about how crazy wonderful my life is. :)


Okay, first, as you probably figured out.... I'M GRADUATED! I finally got my diploma in the mail two weeks ago so it's officially official. :) This summer hasn't been too weird because I only had one summer with classes, but I know that Fall is going to feel empty in a certain way. I've always started school in the Fall and this year, I won't! I even caught myself on my way to work this morning thinking "Gee, I love my life. I wish I didn't have to go back to school in the..... wait! I don't!!!" *cue happy dance* No more classes! :D


Second, my nannying job is going quite well! Though I sometimes complain about having to get up so early, that's the ONLY part I dislike. It's such fun to play with Little Bird and try to come up with creative things for her to do! She's a very bright girl and she's currently learning to communicate. I've discovered that my wearing skirts almost every day has made her love dresses! Every morning when I go up to get her, she points at her drawers and says "DESS!" It's adorable. :) Also, we've made cupcakes a few times and cookies once and she's really getting interested in helping me cook! She likes to sit in her seat in the kitchen and mix whatever is in the bowl or pour in the ingredients. Oh, and she loooooves it when I turn the oven light on so she can keep an eye on whatever is baking. Yes I know, adorable. :) As for employer employee relationships, that's all good too. Little Bird's parents love having me with them and whenever we talk, they always try to get updates on wedding planning and such, wanting to be involved in my life. We're more like friends now. :) To sum it up, God has given me the perfect job and I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!


Third, wedding plans are going quite smoothly. We just mailed our invitations last week (Thank you Grandma and Dearest Carl for helping!!!) and I've been seeing them on people's refrigerators. :) I also got my last dress alteration a few weeks ago so that's all set and ready to go down the isle! Now we're down to details. What color the candles should be, how to set up tables at the reception, which punch bowls to use, etc. etc. etc. Seriously, the list seems unending! Music wise, Dearest Carl and I finished those decisions Sunday afternoon (excepting for one song that needs cut a bit)! This Friday, my aunt (who I put in charge of all the decorations) and I are getting together and really doing some brainstorming and shopping. So things are coming along! 59 days today! :)


Fourth, life plans for Dearest Carl and I. So far, God has been so very generous to us! Dearest Carl ended his job at the school in June and about two weeks later, started a new one for St. Vincent. Another contract job, it goes for two months but has the high potential to continue longer. So far, he says he likes it and he seems happier about going to work. :) Yesterday evening, we finalized apartment plans!!! :D *happy dance* We had gone on Saturday to apply and the landlady let us look at one. After filling out the application form, she approved us and asked if we could come back Monday with the deposit and to see a different apartment. We did and we both liked the second apartment better. It has a more convenient layout, a backdoor and a little backyard that's edged by a field (a lovely little spot to watch the sunrise!). It hadn't been completely cleaned from the previous owner but I know that when it is, it's going to be adorable! My mind has been spinning with all kinds of crafty ideas and interior decorating schemes. Ooooooh I can't wait!


Fifth, events! I add this because life is just full of events up until the wedding! The third weekend in July, we're going to visit some friends in Michigan! Hello late nights and girly talks and laughs and more plans and silly games and of course music. :) The fourth weekend in July, we're going to visit Carl's sister who lives in Chicago! I have yet to see her new baby who, by now, isn't a new baby anymore. Theeeen come's August! At the beginning of August, I have two wedding showers which will probably result in a pile of boxes to add to my room. Then, a week later, my mom and I are going to the lake house for some relaxation and rejuvenation before things get really crazy. When we get back, two weeks of moving and organizing and last minute planning and a Bachelorette party someplace in there and then I become Mrs. Watkins!!!!! Crazy huh? I'm glad it's busy though. It will go by fast. :) 


Sixth, randomness. Check out this new blog that Dearest Carl and I started! We decided, because we love hiking and adventuring and we plan on having a family, to start a blog designed to share our experiences for other adventuring families! Of course our excursions may be more detailed when there are children to account for but it's a start. :) 


Okay okay, I'll quit rambling. :) Here's your song!

Well I hope you enjoyed my ramble! Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein 

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ~ Oscar Wilde

“Life is to be enjoyed, not endured.” ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

“Don't be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live.” ~ Natalie Babbitt

Monday Favorites: Summer Starbucks

Happy Monday dear reader! Today's favorite is very simple. Okay, here's the problem. I love Starbucks. My favorite drink there is a Peppermint Mocha (which I think I've posted about before). I did a happy dance when they started making them year round. BUT! What happens when it's hot and sweltering outside and you don't want a hot drink?! Well, that's when you call in my second favorite:

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the Blended Strawberry Lemonade!! It's like strawberry, lemonady, cold and icy goodness! So next time you go to Starbucks looking for something cool and refreshing, remember this one! You'll be hooked. :)


And with that, here's a nice summery song for you! :)

Enjoy your day and keep those smiles on! Until next time! :)

"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade and lemon pie, ... That may sound trite, yet what I mean is that when something happens that takes you down a different road than you had planned, you need to take control of the situation and turn it into something positive. What may look like a catastrophe can end up being a wonderful opportunity." ~ Anne White

Wishlist Thursday: Hair

Happy Thursday! It's the last day of my work week and I'm looking forward to a free and easy weekend. :) Though being so very hot, I think I will probably be spending most of it inside. :P Tonight, a friend is coming over to play with my hair and veil so we can figure out what to do for the wedding (which is in 64 days)! Looking through styles, I find myself wishing that I hadn't cut my hair quite so short. It limits the possibilities by a lot. *sigh* I want my long hair back!!!!

Ah me. I suppose I shouldn't bemoan it too much. I'll get it back eventually. Here's your song:

Keep your smiles on! Until next time!

"The hair is the richest ornament of women." ~ Martin Luther

"Tucker strokes my hair. There's something so tender about the gesture. It might as well have been him whispering I love you." ~ Cynthia Hand

"Women.... Who made 'em?  God must have been a... genius.  Their hair.  They say that the hair is everything, you know?  Have you ever buried your nose in a mountain of curls, and just wanted to go to sleep forever?" ~ Bo Goldman

Homemaker Wednesday: S'mores

Hello my dear readers! I hope your week is going well! Mine is. :) I realized that.... this is the LAST week of June!!! Wedding bells are ringing ever louder! O.o 


BUT! Before those wedding bells get here, we can't forget to celebrate The Fourth of July! Happening next Wednesday, I know that many of us are praying for rain to relieve this drought because no fire means no campfires and no fireworks. And no campfires means no s'mores! Right? Wrong! I can't help you with your fireworks issue BUT I can help you with your lack of s'mores issue! Check out these two recipes which only require your oven! :)

S'more Bars

S'more Cookies

Delicious looking right?! I'm thinking I may have to test one of those (or BOTH!) this weekend! Ah well. Enjoy your sunshine and keep those smiles on! Until next time!

"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have." ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~ Erma Bombeck

"For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson